PHILADELPHIA -- The world premiere of "It's My Party: The Women and Comedy Project" is on stage at Plays & Players Theatre through May 19.

Presented by 1812 Productions, "It's My Party" is created and directed by 1812 Productions' Artistic Director Jennifer Childs and features a diverse ensemble of Philadelphia actresses.

"It's My Party: The Women and Comedy Project" began in 2010 looking at how women use comedy and how that usage changes as they age.

A work in three acts, "It's My Party" uses several artistic styles -- scripted play, collage, composition, stand-up, cabaret -- to investigate gender stereotypes and unlock politicized boxes in which women are held to give space to the honest, raw, and individual comedy of daily life. "You can own your place in the world," said Childs, "But sometimes you have to walk through the mud to find it."

The show's three acts take the audience from a hilarious dissection of the academic, intellectual, and historical parameters that have traditionally defined the "funny woman."

The production takes its title from the anthemic Lesley Gore pop ballad, which has come to represent myriad points of view for many of the women interviewed for or involved with the production -- most pointedly an interviewee in her 60s who, after a lifetime of ambivalence about what a woman "should" be, remarked, "When I hit my 60th birthday, a light went on. And I decided, 'it's my party, I'm gonna live my life for me.'"

More information about the history, workshops, interviews, and creative process for "It's My Party: The Women and Comedy Project" can be found at www.1812productions.org.

The production will run through May 19 at Plays and Players Theatre, 1714 Delancey St.

Opening Night will be Wednesday, May 1, at 7 p.m.

Ticket prices range from $22 to $38 and can be purchased by calling 215-592-9560 or at the online website at www.1812productions.org.